Bjorn piddled around the galley. The cookies should be done baking soon. What would he do to delay the inevitable then?
Why did he want to? This had after all been his idea. He had been the one to bring it up, first with mother. Then after her help was assured, together they began to work on Sven and Mikael. That had not been easy. It had taken the better part of year to convince Sven, and even now Bjorn feared his eldest brother was only half convinced. And Mikael...even more reluctant, though he of all of them understood exactly why.
No, this was his plan. The youngest. But he could always see what his brothers could not. The bigger picture, while they struggled through the forest one tree at a time. Not that he was unhappy with his place. He was not. He loved being the baby. It had afforded him more time with their mother, a better education and a freedom from the heavy weight of responsibility that his older brothers actually battled for. While he was content to simply...live.
But he knew that it was not that simple. Their way of life was under attack from all sides. Fishing was becoming more difficult as fewer fish inhabited their artic waters due to pollution and overfishing. Today they competed not just with other family fishing vessels but with large corporate ones...and with farms. Fisheries where fish were grown like their mother grew her 'wild' flowers.
It was not just that though. The harbor masters visit had reminded him of all they stood to loose if this plan went wrong. Their very freedom. He and his brothers could spend several years in prison for what had been a way of life for as long as anyone could remember. But modern society would not see it that way...kidnapping. They would be gone so long that the business would surely fail. Monika would be grown...and their mother...gone.
He swallowed hard at the thought. Just as he always did. But it was a reality that he had to face. One that he had forced himself to face over a year ago. And one for which the solution was crystal clear...at least to him. They must find their 'one.'
His mother and Uncle had seen the logic quickly enough. But Sven and Mikael were another matter. It had taken him and their mother months to convince Sven to even consider the possibility. Even then it had been nothing but grudgingly agree that Bjorn could at least look...see what might be out there.
It was strange that the modernity that threatened to bring an end to their way of life actually had provided the key to finding her. The Internet...that Bjorn had been the first to learn...had provided them with the means to search the world over for that one special 'wild flower' as Mama called her. A flower that could grow and bloom its sweetest petals in the cold, rocky soil of their homeland...and the battered hearts of three rough brothers.
He had been reluctant at first to allow their mother to assist him. While he did post a couple of profiles at traditional dating sites, it was the ones that catered to his and his brothers' darker side to which he gave the most effort. Obviously, they could not advertise for a woman to share.
He chuckled at the memory of one of his mother's favorite Christmas presents. He had been a little boy and they had gotten a VCR for Christmas that year. Each of the boys had received videos that might be of interest to them. So too had their mother. He would never forget the light in her eyes or the sound of her rich laughter as she opened her gift. He knew that their mother still watched that video sometimes, especially when she began to miss the men whom she had loved for so long. Except now the Kerry green eyes that he had inherited from her were filled with tears by the end of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
No, their mother had reminded him any woman that could accept and love four men could manage a touch of kink as she pushed him aside and viewed the profile he had created in Sven's name at the BDSM site. She had merely chuckled and murmured something about nuts never falling far from trees as she began to point out things that he had missed that would appeal to the type of woman they sought.
So their mother had begun to help him search through the thousands of profile on the site in the half dozen cities and ports where they would call. It had been a long and at times very depressing process. This one was too submissive. That one too bratty. That one too uptight to manage polyandry. Even though they had specifically not decided to announce their unusual lifestyle in the adverts.
It had taken them three months to identify a handful of women who might...might...be possible candidates. He had with his brothers and mother begun communicating with them all. Then one by one they had fallen away as the women either found Doms closer to them or showed flaws that would make them incompatible with what the brothers needed.
In the end only two women remained. A Russian woman who was slightly older than Bjorn with a young child of her own and Kirsty. Mikael had favored the Russian because as a mother herself she would perhaps take more quickly to Monika. But that had ended disastrously when Sven returned from meeting the woman enraged over the abusive way she treated her son.
So they had redoubled their efforts with Kirsty. She had been their last chance...at least for this trip. And perhaps forever. Bjorn was not certain he and Mama could keep Sven and Mikael interested in this 'project.' He feared that his brothers would continue to drift further apart until...Sven had returned with her today.
He glanced at that closed door once more, she offered Bjorn and Petrine hope. A chance at least that their way of life might be salvaged...at least for one more generation. Bjorn had enjoyed the messages that they exchanged with the woman. With Kirsty. She was intelligent. She cared passionately about her job. She was very beautiful. But like him, she knew there was something missing...something that she craved to find in life.
His gaze drifted longingly to the laptop on the table. He knew what he wanted. A chance to do more with computers that were merely a hobby between fishing trips. Thing was that he loved the fishing too. Mikael and Mama might think that he longed to break free...to do his own thing as Mikael had. But he did not. All he wanted was a chance to combine his loves more fully. If as he had with their search for 'the one' he could turn the tides of modernity in their favor instead of trying to sail against her all too strong winds, then perhaps it was another step closer to their dreams.